This blog focuses on news and information regarding practice in the federal courts in the Eastern District of California, with a special emphasis on criminal and civil rights cases.

Blog Author

John Balazs is an attorney in Sacramento, California, specializing in criminal defense, including appeals, habeas corpus, pardons, expungements, and civil forfeiture actions. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1989, he clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John was an Assistant Federal Defender in Fresno and Sacramento from 1992-2001. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in clinical trial advocacy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Please email EDCA items of interest to Balazslaw@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @balazslaw.

Disclaimer

This blog is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. The law can change rapidly and information in this blog can become outdated. Do your own research or consult with an attorney.

October 31, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take on a case challenging federal rules allocating water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to save the Delta smelt, a minnow-like fish on the edge of extinction.

Pacific Legal Foundation had tried to get the nation’s highest court to hear their arguments against a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had upheld restrictions on pumping of Delta water to farmers and other users south of the Delta in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

PLF contends the appellate court’s decision is an abuse of federal power in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress exclusive power over trade activities among the states and with foreign countries and Indian tribes.

Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take on a case challenging federal rules allocating water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to save the Delta smelt, a minnow-like fish on the edge of extinction.

Pacific Legal Foundation had tried to get the nation’s highest court to hear their arguments against a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had upheld restrictions on pumping of Delta water to farmers and other users south of the Delta in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

PLF contends the appellate court’s decision is an abuse of federal power in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress exclusive power over trade activities among the states and with foreign countries and Indian tribes.